Walking around Whairepo Lagoon in Wellington at night
This is our first experiment of recording a 4K walking tour at night which is why some parts of the video may appear “grainy” or dark due to a lack of any street lighting, oh, and because of us still unsuccessfully trying to figure out all the settings on the camera.
I had to increase the exposure in post-production so you could see more than just dark shadows here and there. 🙂
What we noticed is that at night, the video does NOT look like a 4K one but it is.
Is that caused by the automatic camera stabiliser while I walk, terrible camera settings or something else? If you think you know, leave us a comment below.
The Whairepo Lagoon Night Walking Tour
In this short 4K Walking Tour of Wellington at night, we start at the Civic Square, we cross the City to Sea Bridge where we get a glimpse of the lagoon. Then we head around the lagoon admiring what we encounter along the way.
Te Ngākau Civic Square
We start our night tour at Te Ngākau Civic Square. This is a public square that is surrounded by the Wellington Town Hall, The City Gallery, The Michael Fowler Centre and the Central Library (as well as some other places).
If you look up towards the sky, you will see an iconic sculpture seemingly floating in the air (spoiler alert: it’s not floating, it’s suspended by cables connected to surrounding buildings). This sculpture is a (3.4 metre) sphere of large fern leaves made of aluminium. It “floats” 14 metres above the ground and you really can’t miss it.
The City to Sea Bridge
This is a pedestrian bridge which is a combination of bridge and artwork. It goes over a main road (Jervois Quay) and connects the Civic Square to the Whairepo Lagoon part of Wellington’s waterfront. You will pass (or go through) a huge stone sculpture called Te Aho a Māui (Fishing line of Maui) which represents a mountain that has been split in two. Yes, you can walk through the gap between the two parts of the mountain.
Then you will notice the wooden sculptures forming the sides of the bridge along with other sculptures before arriving at Whairepo Lagoon. To your right, you will see a large building (lit up at night) which is the Michael Fowler Centre.
What does Whairepo mean?
Whai Repo is the Māori name for the Eagle Ray. The word Whai Repo comes from two words: Whai – stingray, and Repo – mudflat. Estuaries and shallow harbours (like this lagoon) are common habitats of the eagle ray.
Whairepo Lagoon
This is a small man-made lagoon connected to Wellington Harbour via a narrow channel. On one side of the lagoon you will see an old building (opened in 1886) that is home to the Star Boating Club.
During the day, you will see rowers on the lagoon most days.
After crossing the City to Sea Bridge we turn left and come across the Albatross Fountain. It consists of three large, white, abstract shapes in a circular fountain. It is lit up at night.
After this fountain we come across a footbridge that crosses the channel connected the sea to the lagoon. Notice the large metal balls/orbs around this section. At night they have light coming out of the middle section of each one.
Crossing the bridge you will see an almost 100-year-old floating crane to the left which is also lit up at night.
On the night of recording, we went between some buildings and stumbled across a giant version of Thor’s Hammer sitting next to the lagoon.
Why was Thor’s Hammer (Mjölnir) in Wellington?
Legend has it that Thor studied theology at Uni in Wellington for a few years … ok, maybe not.
There was a cool Marvel Exhibition in Wellington from December to April 2024 (we went but understandably you can’t record inside). This giant statue of Thor’s Hammer (Mjölnir) was placed next to Whairepo lagoon which is across from the building where the Marvel exhibition was taking place.
Unfortunately Thor’s Hammer has now been removed so if you were looking for it while in Wellington and couldn’t find it, no it’s not you … it’s them. 🙂
